Joint Review: The Perils of Pleasure by Julie Anne Long

The Perils of Pleasure by Julie Anne Long
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication Date: October 13th 2009
Genres: Fiction
Pages: 384
Add It: Goodreads
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A rescued rogue . . .
Scandal has rocked the city of London. Colin Eversea, a handsome, reckless unapologetic rogue is sentenced to hang for murder and, inconveniently for him, the only witness to the crime disappears. Then again, throughout history, the Everseas have always managed to cheat fate in style: Colin is snatched from the gallows by a beautiful, clever mercenary.
A captivating captor. . .
Cool-headed, daring Madeleine Greenway is immune to Colin's vaunted charm. Her mission is not to rescue Colin but to kidnap him, and to be paid handsomely for it. But when it becomes clear that whoever wants Colin alive wants Madeline dead, the two become uneasy allies in a deadly race for truth. Together, they'll face great danger—and a passion neither can resist.

Something very rare happened this past week. It must have been the full moon, but Holly and I actually read the same book around the same time! That never happens. And because we’re both lazy, here is our discussion on the book, rather than an actual review. LOL Spoilers all over the place, you’ve been warned. 😛

ames: I really really liked this book. It was surprising really.

Holly: It was good, wasn’t it? I really liked the heroine, which is always a nice surprise for me.

ames: Yeah, I liked her too. She was really good and practical. 😛 No too stupid to live moments. And I really liked how Colin let her handle a gun and take watch while he slept. I also liked how she was willing to walk away from him – I always want that to happen and it never does. So yeah she walked away and made him sweat for a week. That makes me happy.

Holly: No, not TSTL at all. It was a nice change. And I liked that she walked away, too. I was thinking she really needed to make him work for it…hee hee

ames: I would have liked the boudoir scene, when they’re watching the countess and her lovah, to be a bit more spicy. But it works out that once you get to know the countess, you wouldn’t to get cheap thrills off her. LOL If she was a wicked sort, some naughty voyeurism would have been ok. But still, initially, I wanted a bit more from that scene. LOL And also, I liked how Madeleine was ok with her sexuality, she welcomed and wanted Colin’s magic touch. And the humor they had with each other – it’s all good stuff.

Holly: See, at first I thought we were going to get a naughty peep show, but I think it worked out well the way it did. The Countess and her footman were great characters, I think. Even though they only played a small part, I really enjoyed them.

And I loved Colin’s humor.

ames: Exactly!

Oooh Colin was just a good guy. 😛 And the things he would say to make her laugh. Like how his stick was bigger than hers. haha

Holly: LMAO! that cracked me up. Freaking Colin. I was really surprised at how…light the book was. I think I expected it to be a bit darker than it was.

What did you think of Mad’s past. I felt that it wasn’t explored enough. I mean..we know she lost her husband and child, but…..I didn’t really get a sense of things, did you?

ames: Yeah it could have been darker, but Colin’s humor kept it light. I think if Mad’s past had been explored and we got deeper into her character, it would have been a dark novel. Like what did she go through after she lost her family? But also Mad’s character, her practicality, shows that Mad would have done whatever she needed to survive. She’s a survivor! LOL I’m totally channeling Destiny’s Child right there.

Also, that explains why Mad’s story isn’t a sob story. Yeah it’s sad and she’ll miss them, and she hid her pain by being a “planner” but Colin did wake her up. She was hiding from herself, from a true life by living dangerously and Colin shook her out of that.

sigh This book works for me on so many levels. LOL

Holly: Excellent point. And now that you bring it up, I think it worked perfectly. I didn’t pity her or feel she had too much baggage. She was a strong character, and seeing her come alive with Colin was great.

Oh, one thing that did bother me..why was he in love with whatsherface? That didn’t make any sense to me. I mean, I don’t see why he loved her. He kept saying he did, and always had, but I don’t think we saw enough to really believe it. I think the reason it bothered me so much is because that was the major conflict between him and Mad (Well, one of them, anyway) and yet it wasn’t very well drawn out.

ames: Well I think it wasn’t drawn out because the characters didn’t want to dwell on the fact that he was racing home to marry another woman. Madeleine didn’t think about it, and I think Colin avoided thinking about it because he was conflicted. He did say “mine” that one time they had nookie.

But I see the point you’re making. Like in the carriage ride back to Pennyroyal, there was no inner dialog on Colin’s part on how he let loose his desire to marry Louisa. He said that’s what he did, but we weren’t really given that insight into his thoughts. But I’m kind of ok with that, because hey, they did get together in the end. LOL

I feel kind of…not mad, but something, over the fact that this all happened because someone wanted their allowance back. Damn that Fanchette.

AND I would also like to read about Colin’s parents! How exactly did his Mama hook up with Redmond and how did her husband come to forgive her? Saucy wench. She’s probably a tiger in bed. hehe

Holly: You are so bad. But yeah, I’m thinking mom was a tiger. And I just thought it was funny that it all happened because Franchette lost her allowance. Maybe that stems from the fact that I don’t like her husband? And really, had she NOT lost her allowance, Colin would have died, right? So it all worked out in the end.

Overall, I think this was a light, fun read with interesting characters and a well developed plot. I had a few small issues with it, but I’m going to give it a:

4.5 out of 5

ames: Me too!

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